Samsung M3200 Beat s review: Never miss a beat

Telephony

Voice quality and coverage have never been an issue with recent Samsung handsets we've tested. The quad-band M3200 Beat s won't let you down with call clarity, ringing is quite powerful and crisp, so you certainly won't miss an incoming call even in noisy surroundings. A music-centered handset should deliver on that count almost by default.

Calling Dexter

Samsung M3200 Beat s is among the loudest handsets to have passed our loudspeaker test. Here is how the M3200 Beat s ranks along some of the other phones we've measured. More info on our test and all current results can be found here.

The latest user interface

Samsung M3200 Beat s uses the latest non-smartphone user interface, which we last saw in the S7330 and the B2700 toughie. Both are midrange handsets, so no interface marvels were to be expected. By the same token, the M3200 Beat is putting music first in what's otherwise quite a modest package.

The main menu displays as a 3 x 4 grid of icons with corresponding alphanumeric key shortcuts. Deeper level submenus also have keypad shortcuts besides being navigated with the D-pad. Visuals are adequate and the user interface is generally fast and responsive.

Typical Samsung feature phone menu

The home screen is quite minimalist. The basic status readings are at the top taskbar, such as signal strength, service provider, time, battery status. Additional icons also get displayed to indicate Bluetooth on, missed events, silent/vibrate mode, alarm on, etc. There a few wallpaper types to choose from: living world, image, from theme and photo slider.

Home screen options

Customization options as usual

The usual assortment of dialing customizations is of course at hand. There are six dialing animations to choose from, the last two of which vary a little according to the active theme or your location.

Some of the available dialing styles, font types, colors and backgrounds

Users can choose among three different preinstalled themes, each well known across a wide range of feature phones of the company. The M3200 Beat has a default Samsung theme, as well as the Spotlight and Elegance Noire. If you want more, you have the option of creating your own theme in two modes - Easy and Expert.

The other two preloaded themes